A Feminist Judaism
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In her book Standing Again at Sinai, Judith Plaskow attempts to shape and describe a feminist Judaism, and she does so by describing the existing situation and how it developed, the meaning of a feminist Judaism, and how such a change might be brought about, assuming that it is determined that this would be a valuable addition to Judaic thought and practice. Plaskow begins by noting the contradictions that exist between a feminist conception of Judaism and the actuality, and she then considers different aspects of Jewish life and how women fit into them as well as how she believes women should fit into them. Her discussion echoes that of a number of other religious and feminist theorists who have considered the nature of religious thought today, the way a patriarchal religious society has developed, and how to regain some of what has been lost over the centuries as religion shifted from a feminine to a masculine social structure. Plaskow is truly calling for change and not merely for a cosmetic alteration in Judaism. She says that there is a contradiction in Judaism which signals that Judaism at present is based on a broad patriarchal worldview: Thus Jewish feminists might agree that it is a matter of simple justice for Jewish women to have full access to the riches of Jewish life. But when a woman stands in the pulpit and reads from the Torah that her daughters can be sold as slaves. . . she participates in a profound contradiction between the message of her presence
. . .
onceiver and bearer of children is perceived as confirmation of her fall, a punishment shared by all women who come after her (Newsom and Ringe 13).
Plaskow indicates how this idea that men are superior to women is carried through the in Judaic tradition as expressed in the Old Testament and the Hebrew Bible. She especially points to the moment considered the central event that established the Jewish people, the entry into the covenant at Sinai:
For here, at the very moment that the Jewish people stands at Sinai ready to receive the covenant. . . Moses addresses the community only as men (Plaskow 25).
Plaskow says that this raises an important question--have women every had a covenant, and are they therefore to be considered Jews? From the beginning of Jewish history, says Plaskow, women are hidden from history, shrouded in invisibility. Jewish women ever after have assumed that they are part of the community, but a look back at Sinai raises important questions about this, questions that may shock those who have not considered the issue in this light before.
Plaskow's book raises these and other questions and begins a movement toward a feminist hermeneutics, a feminist interpretation of the texts of Judaism and a shift to a
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Approximate Word count = 2049
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page)
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